April 22, when she returns home, will also be a public holiday in Nepal.

This is the first state visit of the President of Nepal after assuming office of the President in October 2015. The announcement on Sunday by Law Minister Ajay Shankar Nayak about the public holidays on April 17 and 22 appeared a continuation of the previous practice - but strident criticism from nearly all quarters forced the government to have a re-think on the decision.

A high-level delegation comprising several ministers and MPs will accompany her.

Pointing out that for Nepal India remains the largest trading partner, the Nepalese president said that more trade and transit classification measures are essential to address the trade imbalance between the two neighbours.

Modi, who called on Bhandari late Tuesday afternoon, said he had "fruitful talks" with her during the meeting. Mahat said Bhandari went to the airport when Mukherjee arrived on a state visit to Nepal as Nepal has the tradition of presenting the guard of honour at the airport itself.

According to the statement, both sides expressed satisfaction at the intensive bilateral exchanges in recent months at all levels between two countries. The bilateral ties had faced turbulence a year ago due to the Madhesi agitation and subsequent blockade by the Madhesi demonstrators which halted the supply of essential goods to landlocked Nepal from India.

"Both the sides noted that India-Nepal relations derive their strength and salience from shared history, common cultural ethos, and long years of close and intense people-to-people contacts facilitated by open borders", the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"They would like to give you assistance which is termed in very expendable terms and they would like to run those projects themselves, so that you do not become capable of running those projects", Singh said at the conference organised by industry chambers CII, Ficci and Assocham. She will also visit the famous Jagannath Temple in Puri in the state of Odisha and Dwarka and Somnath temples in Gujarat.